Watson Lovers

[IceMan]

Its hard to get rid of him after what he was able to do with Ganz! But maybe his coaching is picky and needs the perfect players to run it! He must have some skills look what he did with colorado! lol Bo will squeeze him till something good pops out or pops out of lincoln!

[CornHunka]

Couple of points in Watson's favor

 

1. I maybe wrong here, but isn't Watson the same guy who turned last year's offense around and got this team to 9 wins?

 

2. I don't understand some of the plays that are being called, but lots of time, those plays aren't ran (the pick 6 was an audible by Cody Green).

 

3. Give the guy some ammo. We have true freshman starting at quarterback (blame BC). We were down to our 4th or 5th running back due to injury and the Helu is the only upperclassmen of the group. (blame BC)

 

4. We are 2-2 in the conference. Even if we lose to OU, we still control our own destiny to get the Big 12 Championship game.

 

Couple things not in Watson's favor

 

1. He could open up the underneath by throwing it deep. (did a couple of times yesterday)

 

2. If you are going to run the zone read, you have to have a viable running threat at qb. (started Green over Lee)

 

3. Find a way to get Mike McNeil some touches. TE is a strength and it's being under used.

 

4. 8 games into the season, he should have been able to figure out what this offense does well and adjust to it (like last year).

[bshirt]

I think I know what could make this offense great, and here it is...

 

Stop this style of offense and do something that can play to Nebraska's strengths.

 

Let's face the simple truth. Nebraska is never going to beat Texas, Florida, USC, or even Oklahoma in the recruiting game. It is their game and they play it perfectly.

 

Why do you think Nebraska ran the style of offense they did for so long and it worked so well? T.O. knew that Nebraska wasn't a place that he was going to reel in 5 star recruits like USC does. He knew he could take guys maybe nobody else wanted that badly and make them successful in his offense.

 

Former opponents, after playing Nebraska, would feel the pain and soreness from the game for long after they would any other. Even if we lost, we would be extremely physical and pop them in the mouth every play. Now, we finesse our way down the football field, "take what the defense gives us", and we don't impose are will on anybody not in the Sun Belt.

 

Take that 320 play playbook, cut it down significantly, perfect those plays, and then give em to another team. I think our team is average at every play and great at nothing, which means we pretty much have a 50/50 chance of being successful on any given play.

 

Bingo!

 

Sadly, 99% of NU fans will never understand the recruiting limitations of Lincoln and will probably continue to pine for yet another Callahan with his fluffball schemes. Even much sadder is that with time, they'll get one.

[funhusker]

Im just curious why some people believe Watson should be retained at the end of the season.

 

Now....I dont want answers such as...Watson isn't the problem....We don't have the players...the players drop passes....the line does't block...etc.

 

I want you to tell me what Watson brings to the table and what he can do to help the offense and makes you think he is so good, not what other people aren't doing to help the offense.

 

Let's get back to the original question listed above. I've heard nothing but crickets, and it is a good question.

 

Well, I will give you some reasons why he shouldn't stay.

 

1. He ALWAYS abandons what is working. Anyone remember the Cotton Bowl a couple of years ago. We ram the ball down Auburns throats and score two TD's. Then guess what, the same ol same ol, we go back to what doesn't work the rest of the game and lose 17-14. Shoot, we see it every game!!!

 

Watson wasn't the play caller in that game!

 

2. The offense doesn't show any fire or desire. That comes from the coaching, period. Case in point, Bo took a horrible D two years ago and turned it around and showed dramatic improvement last year. Now look at it this year, ranked in the top ten in scoring defense. We still have several players left over from two years ago (on D) and look at what a little good coaching has done. There seems to be a huge difference here between the O and the D.

 

That also comes from assistants on the sideline. WR, OL, RB coaches need to fire up the group, not the OC.

 

3. As a manager, I can attest to the fact that good leadership starts at the top! If Watson has total control of the offense, (maybe Bo shouldn't have given him) then he takes the blame for everything under him. That includes the position coaches (Cotton) and how the players are being prepared.

 

Good point, responsible for bad play (OP said not to use that as excuse)

 

4. Hasn't shown any desire to conform his offense to the abilities of his players. A good coach will adapt to the players he has. Yes, we have had several injuries, so play to the strengths of who you have left.

 

An OC should expect people to catch and not fumble. He has replaced players that seem to have that problem. Football players should be able to play football, if not, that is why there is backups.

 

5. This "take what the defence gives you" mentality has to go. Nebraska used to impose their will on the defences. Look at other schools who are on top, Florida, USC, Cinci, Bama ect. They impose their will on the defence and dare you to stop them. Also, amazingly enough, they play to the strenghts of their players!

 

Have you ever watched Cincinnati? They are anything but a smashmouth football team. USC is the only superior offense in that group, and guess what, they run an offense similar to ours with better talent.

 

6. As someone else mentioned before, we are never going to get the "5 star" receivers that the southern schools get. Tom understood that and built an offense around the caliber of talent he would be able to recruit.

 

There is talent in our receiving corp.

 

7. I will concede that he and the other coaches on offense see the players everyday in practice. Yet, they seem to be stuborn and have their heads in the sand. I don't care how well things appear to work in practice, it isn't working in the games. I would love to know how many times this offense actually go's against the starting defence in practice. If they really do, that should be telling to the coaches, I can't imagine they move the ball that well. Maybe not often, the coaches probably don't want to destroy the psyche of the offensive players .

 

This would be on Bo. He designs practices.

 

8. The argument that they had to scale down the offense for Green doesn't hold water. I don't know about all of you, but I was still seeing most of the same stupid plays with Green that we saw with Lee. I think Watson is the only one who knows all of his 300+ plays. During actual games we only see less the 20 and that is being generous. When other defensive coaches are breaking down game film of us, they must be salivating!!!

 

Those 320 plays include checks, pattern changes, same plays different formation etc. If you can't handle that, you should have quit playing in High School. We had 150 plays in h.s. at least. We had 10 formations and anywhere from 10-20 plays in each.

 

NU is second in the North behind psuedo leader KSU. It may not be the National Championship year some of us came to expect, but the Big XII is NU's to lose.

[funhusker]

Im just curious why some people believe Watson should be retained at the end of the season.

 

Now....I dont want answers such as...Watson isn't the problem....We don't have the players...the players drop passes....the line does't block...etc.

 

I want you to tell me what Watson brings to the table and what he can do to help the offense and makes you think he is so good, not what other people aren't doing to help the offense.

 

Let's get back to the original question listed above. I've heard nothing but crickets, and it is a good question.

 

Well, I will give you some reasons why he shouldn't stay.

 

1. He ALWAYS abandons what is working. Anyone remember the Cotton Bowl a couple of years ago. We ram the ball down Auburns throats and score two TD's. Then guess what, the same ol same ol, we go back to what doesn't work the rest of the game and lose 17-14. Shoot, we see it every game!!!

 

Watson wasn't the play caller in that game!

 

2. The offense doesn't show any fire or desire. That comes from the coaching, period. Case in point, Bo took a horrible D two years ago and turned it around and showed dramatic improvement last year. Now look at it this year, ranked in the top ten in scoring defense. We still have several players left over from two years ago (on D) and look at what a little good coaching has done. There seems to be a huge difference here between the O and the D.

 

That also comes from assistants on the sideline. WR, OL, RB coaches need to fire up the group, not the OC.

 

3. As a manager, I can attest to the fact that good leadership starts at the top! If Watson has total control of the offense, (maybe Bo shouldn't have given him) then he takes the blame for everything under him. That includes the position coaches (Cotton) and how the players are being prepared.

 

Good point, responsible for bad play (OP said not to use that as excuse)

 

4. Hasn't shown any desire to conform his offense to the abilities of his players. A good coach will adapt to the players he has. Yes, we have had several injuries, so play to the strengths of who you have left.

 

An OC should expect people to catch and not fumble. He has replaced players that seem to have that problem. Football players should be able to play football, if not, that is why there is backups.

 

5. This "take what the defence gives you" mentality has to go. Nebraska used to impose their will on the defences. Look at other schools who are on top, Florida, USC, Cinci, Bama ect. They impose their will on the defence and dare you to stop them. Also, amazingly enough, they play to the strenghts of their players!

 

Have you ever watched Cincinnati? They are anything but a smashmouth football team. USC is the only superior offense in that group, and guess what, they run an offense similar to ours with better talent.

6. As someone else mentioned before, we are never going to get the "5 star" receivers that the southern schools get. Tom understood that and built an offense around the caliber of talent he would be able to recruit.

 

There is talent in our receiving corp.

 

7. I will concede that he and the other coaches on offense see the players everyday in practice. Yet, they seem to be stuborn and have their heads in the sand. I don't care how well things appear to work in practice, it isn't working in the games. I would love to know how many times this offense actually go's against the starting defence in practice. If they really do, that should be telling to the coaches, I can't imagine they move the ball that well. Maybe not often, the coaches probably don't want to destroy the psyche of the offensive players .

 

This would be on Bo. He designs practices.

 

8. The argument that they had to scale down the offense for Green doesn't hold water. I don't know about all of you, but I was still seeing most of the same stupid plays with Green that we saw with Lee. I think Watson is the only one who knows all of his 300+ plays. During actual games we only see less the 20 and that is being generous. When other defensive coaches are breaking down game film of us, they must be salivating!!!

 

Those 320 plays include checks, pattern changes, same plays different formation etc. If you can't handle that, you should have quit playing in High School. We had 150 plays in h.s. at least. We had 10 formations and anywhere from 10-20 plays in each.

 

NU is second in the North behind psuedo leader KSU. It may not be the National Championship year some of us came to expect, but the Big XII is NU's to lose.

[miller]

This is the first Nebraska team I can remember that I haven't really enjoyed watching. The offensive playcalling is garbage and reminds me of everything that I believe is wrong with college football in general. The offense looks like something run at a high school and I hate to say it but I've at times been embarrassed. 2009 will finally be the year where I take back any and all statements I've made throughout my lifetime pertaining to Nebraska running more shotgun.

 

Every time I see a shotgun zone read draw on first down, a part of me dies. I think flying back to sit in the stands during the Texas Tech game ruined me-I'm disgusted and have been dividing my ire up between the entire coaching staff ever since.

 

I think I need help, I don't "Bo-lieve" anymore; and next week is Oklahoma...dear god help me.

[beanman]

I can't think of anything I like about him or his offense. I don't care who he plays at QB, rb or receiver. I will never get excited about seeing our O on the field.

[Street Novelist]

I think I know what could make this offense great, and here it is...

 

Stop this style of offense and do something that can play to Nebraska's strengths.

 

Let's face the simple truth. Nebraska is never going to beat Texas, Florida, USC, or even Oklahoma in the recruiting game. It is their game and they play it perfectly.

 

Why do you think Nebraska ran the style of offense they did for so long and it worked so well? T.O. knew that Nebraska wasn't a place that he was going to reel in 5 star recruits like USC does. He knew he could take guys maybe nobody else wanted that badly and make them successful in his offense.

 

Former opponents, after playing Nebraska, would feel the pain and soreness from the game for long after they would any other. Even if we lost, we would be extremely physical and pop them in the mouth every play. Now, we finesse our way down the football field, "take what the defense gives us", and we don't impose are will on anybody not in the Sun Belt.

 

Take that 320 play playbook, cut it down significantly, perfect those plays, and then give em to another team. I think our team is average at every play and great at nothing, which means we pretty much have a 50/50 chance of being successful on any given play.

 

ding ding ding! We have a winner. Why is it so hard for Husker fans to understand this?

[irafreak]

After having Waton's pick with a red slash through it for two weeks...i'm going to actually come to his defense...a little.

 

I saw him change the gameplan a little in the 3rd up 20-3. I wonder if he was trying to find some more money plays and strengths with a new qb and different wideouts for next week's game. After the pick six...which was all on green apparently (watson said he thought it was a blitz but they faked blitz and dropped), watson went back to power football as it was working earlier. Smart move. Decided to win this game.

 

He started green and he and bo mentioned why. Banged up RB's and they needed more ground power. Most of the people that argued for lee to stay refused to acknowledge this fact.

 

The biggest defense i have now....watson was seen talking to osborne after the game (sitting down and chatting) hopefully getting another OC's opinion and view. Say what you will about TO and he's old or whatever...he's still another person that might see things Watson doesn't. To me that's a smart move. I thought the staff was being too arrogant to start green cause the fans and media were calling for it. If indeed he was talking to TO about the game for advice (and it may not have been the case) then that's just being smart.

 

I thought it was fine to keep watson when Bo was hired cause i did not want another 5-7 season. So the logic was fine and he wanted to be here. That's important to me. Choosing us over bama was loyalty to us and I respect that. My avitar wasn't to call for his head but just call for accountability. I'm willing to give him more time after seeing adjustments made to the gameplan.

[hskerprid]

I think I know what could make this offense great, and here it is...

 

Stop this style of offense and do something that can play to Nebraska's strengths.

 

Let's face the simple truth. Nebraska is never going to beat Texas, Florida, USC, or even Oklahoma in the recruiting game. It is their game and they play it perfectly.

 

Why do you think Nebraska ran the style of offense they did for so long and it worked so well? T.O. knew that Nebraska wasn't a place that he was going to reel in 5 star recruits like USC does. He knew he could take guys maybe nobody else wanted that badly and make them successful in his offense.

 

Former opponents, after playing Nebraska, would feel the pain and soreness from the game for long after they would any other. Even if we lost, we would be extremely physical and pop them in the mouth every play. Now, we finesse our way down the football field, "take what the defense gives us", and we don't impose are will on anybody not in the Sun Belt.

 

Take that 320 play playbook, cut it down significantly, perfect those plays, and then give em to another team. I think our team is average at every play and great at nothing, which means we pretty much have a 50/50 chance of being successful on any given play.

 

ding ding ding! We have a winner. Why is it so hard for Husker fans to understand this?

The part about T.O. and recruiting isn't totally accurate either. USC wasn't relevant for many years while T.O. was coaching. I think they had girls in bikinis and beaches then too. They became relevant by having a head coach that gets "it".

Florida wasn't all that good either until they started hiring better coaches as well. Wasn't Texas a very bad team until Mack showed up? I believe that one of their records during the 90's was 4-8 before the big 12.

Look at what Snyder did here in Manhattan.

It all comes down to coaching and how the product is presented on the field of play. Yes, you can do more with less, I think that has been proven on defense. Now comes the time to see it done on the Offense.

[HuskerTrucker]

What do you mean? He started Cody Green like everyone told him to, now you want him gone? If the D sucks next year, should they fire Bo? I remember many throwing a fit about the rumor of Watson going to bama' and how worried everyone was if he was offered a HC job somewhere. Boy how things change...

When will people figure out that you can only work with what you have, and if you don't have the talent, you are not going to just come up with some game plan that works with no talent. This Offense is sub-par, and until we get some people in here that can dominate on offense, it don't matter who you have as an offensive coordinator. They need to get recruiting on offense. This team is easy to recruit on defense, but at this point there is no emphasis put on recruiting quality offensive linemen, or any other position other than QB it seems. You can't have a good offense just because you have a great QB if you can't protest him or give him run support. If this coaching staff is at fault, or will be at fault anywhere, it is because they have not put emphasis on getting those quality player recruited on offense. Seems to me that Defense is priority at Nebraska, they better wise up and figure out that there has to be some balance. You can't bring in sub-par players and expect them to succeed no matter how much coaching you give them. If they can't be physical and take care of their responsibility, they will still get run over.

I give Bo another season, and then it is not anyone's recruiting at fault but his own. Then I think people will be legitimate in questioning what is going on with recruiting. Right now, we are mainly using recruits of BC, so all you BC supporters, take a hard look at what we have...

[Karawithasmile]

Sometimes I feel like Watson's playcalling doesn't adjust after halftime when defenses adjust to whatever they see in our offense. I don't like or dislike Watson, I just want to see a succesful offense that can put up touchdowns. An offense which doesn't make me worry every time we throw a lateral/backwards pass...

 

ALSO, WTF was up with the option with only a few minutes left in a 10 point game??? A play like that can be risky when you're just trying to run out the clock --- why call that play?

[HuskerTrucker]

I had that feeling this week. Seem like Baylor adjusted, and we didn't or didn't have anything to adjust to, especially on offense.

[HuskerBCS]

What do you mean? He started Cody Green like everyone told him to, now you want him gone? If the D sucks next year, should they fire Bo? I remember many throwing a fit about the rumor of Watson going to bama' and how worried everyone was if he was offered a HC job somewhere. Boy how things change...

When will people figure out that you can only work with what you have, and if you don't have the talent, you are not going to just come up with some game plan that works with no talent. This Offense is sub-par, and until we get some people in here that can dominate on offense, it don't matter who you have as an offensive coordinator. They need to get recruiting on offense. This team is easy to recruit on defense, but at this point there is no emphasis put on recruiting quality offensive linemen, or any other position other than QB it seems. You can't have a good offense just because you have a great QB if you can't protest him or give him run support. If this coaching staff is at fault, or will be at fault anywhere, it is because they have not put emphasis on getting those quality player recruited on offense. Seems to me that Defense is priority at Nebraska, they better wise up and figure out that there has to be some balance. You can bring in sub-par players and expect them to succeed no matter how much coaching you give them. If they can't be physical and take care of their responsibility, they will still get run over.

I give Bo another season, and then it is not anyone's recruiting at fault but his own. Then I think people will be legitimate in questioning what is going on with recruiting. Right now, we are mainly using recruits of BC, so all you BC supporters, take a hard look at what we have...

 

Im sorry but people who think we don't have talent are wrong. Sure the talent we have might be fairly young but that doesn't seem to stop any other programs around the country. Lets look at them....

 

QB's....young but very athletic in Green

WR's...nothing really flashy here but all fairly solid (Cooper real good, only 1 dropped ball thats been thrown to him).

RB's...banged up but still solid down to the 4-5 string guys (Robinson real good, Ward very hard downhill runner..get him in the I formation with a lead blocker and see what he could do...I almost guaranteed he'd have 100 yard rushing games if they would stick with it).

TE's....we all know our TE's are very good.

OL....starting to get criticism but I don't think they are bad. I think their philosophy on offense breeds a soft lineman. How can u pass block being passive one down and then be expected to run block and be aggressive the next...and do that the whole game. A lot easier to run block every down and get that mind set. You can then start using ur adrenaline to blow people off the line.

 

The real problem I see is that Watson will not use the talent that we have and use it to our advantages. I mean come on, how many times have we used the TE's this year. We have some talent, it is just not being utilized because Watson wants to continue to run HIS style of offense.

[HuskerBCS]

double post